Presentation slides from 'Managing a Confirmed Opt-in Process in Pardot' by Sarah Kelleher from the Pardot London User Group Meetup on 4th July 2017. Full opt-in guidebook available to download here: http://www2.nebulaconsulting.co.uk/confirmed-opt-in-guide ICO Guidelines on GDPR: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/overview-of-the-gdpr/

1. Managing a Confirmed
Opt-In Process in Pardot
Sarah Kelleher
Head of Pardot

2. • Also known as double opt-in
• Verifies prospect’s email address after explicit opt in
• Considered best practice in a number of countries already
What is Confirmed Opt-in?
• Helps prevent spam entries into marketing lists
• Reduces bounces and maintains clean email database
• Improves response rate and interactivity of marketing audience
Why Confirmed Opt-in?

3. A quick note on GDPR
“Consent under the GDPR must be a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication
of the individual’s wishes. There must be some form of clear affirmative action – or in other
words, a positive opt-in – consent cannot be inferred from silence, pre-ticked boxes or
inactivity. Consent must also be separate from other terms and conditions, and you will need to
provide simple ways for people to withdraw consent.”
- ICO Key areas to Consider
Full legislation is not in force or entirely confirmed yet, but the impact on opt-ins is clear:
• No sneaky / confusing checkboxes
X Uncheck this box if you do not want to receive marketing communications X
• Not a huge change to existing DPA opt-in regulation and existing DPA opt-ins will not need to
be refreshed
• If you have no explicit opt-in process in place, you will need to gather an opt-in for all data as it
must be verifiable

4. Overview

5. Step 1: Create your Custom Fields
1. Opt-in Status
Used to capture what stage of opt-in each prospect is at
a. Dropdown/Radio field with four values:
i. No Opt-in
ii. Unconfirmed
iii. Confirmed
iv. Unsubscribed
b. If data is imported into this field, it should be validated on import
2. Opt-in Date
Captures date of confirmed opt-in for audit

6. Step 2.1: Add the Opt In to Forms
1. Opt-in Status as a Radio Button
2. Set to Always Display
3. Add a description to indicate
the explicit consent e.g.
I am interested in receiving news and tailored
content from ABC Corp
4. Leave only two values:
a. No Opt-in
b. Unconfirmed
Goal: Create one checkbox which records either ‘No Opt-in’ or ‘Unconfirmed’

7. Step 2.2: Transform Radio Button to Checkbox
Using the setup from step 2.1, a simple script in the Layout Template or
Before Form content will transform a radio button into a single checkbox
TIP: This script also works well for any true/false checkboxes you need to
add to forms
WARNING: This section contains custom Javascript - you may want to get
some help from your developer if you get stuck

8. Confirming the Opt-in - Automation Rule
Automation Rule:
• Rules
– Prospect has completed any form successfully
– Opt in Status is ‘Unconfirmed’
• Actions
– Send autoresponder email > Your Opt-in Confirmation Template
• Repeat
– Every 1 day, unlimited matches
NEW! This is a perfect example of using the new Repeat functionality on
Automation Rules without the need for any Custom Scripts

9. Confirming the Opt-in - Autoresponder
• Automate update of Opt-in Status to ‘Confirmed’ using a
Custom Redirect in your Autoresponder
• Custom Redirect can redirect to any page, but the Email
Preference Center is a popular choice
• Completion Actions
– Change Opt-in Status to Confirmed
– Change Opt-in Date to today

10. Overview(Reprise)

11. Success!!

12. More Points to Consider
• Managing External Data - importing lists
• Setting up an Email Preference Center
• Hiding the Opt-in checkbox when someone is Confirmed
• Gathering opt-ins for existing data

13. Download the Guide
http://www2.nebulaconsulting.co.uk/confirmed-opt-in-guide